What’s the easiest and best way to read my books or any other author’s books for FREE, in a safe, non-virus contagious, legal way?
It’s for YOU to send a purchasing request to your local library that they buy those our books.
Requesting that your library purchase my books for their collection
Nowadays, most libraries have email or contact forms on their website that let you make purchasing requests with out even leaving your house!
And in fact, libraries love when you request books to buy because it helps them with their statistics. It shows that people in the community are using their resources (and thus, helping them to avoid budget cuts).
In fact, reader requests are the #1 way for independent authors to get their books into libraries.
It is extremely hard, if not near impossible for most independent authors to get their books into libraries because:
1) Visibility – Indie authors don’t have the budget to tell every library about their works. The cost to advertise in library trade journals is prohibitively expensive. One well known book review publication charges indie authors around $800 for a single review!
2) WHO? libraries aren’t going to spend tax-payer dollars on a books they’re not sure their patrons want by people they’ve never heard of. On the other hand, if a reader requests a book for purchase, it is hard data that shows that SOMEONE in their community wants to read that.
3) Quality control – Let’s be honest; there’s a lot of great things about indie publishing, including the fact that ANYONE can put up a book, but that’s also a minus; that ANYONE can put up a book with no quality checks. This is why social proof and reviews help A LOT. Thanks to readers like you, the first book of my Dragon Lovers series, BETROTHED TO THE DRAGON has more than 100 reviews with a 4 star average on Amazon!
Now, admittedly, sometimes libraries might still say no. Sometimes they don’t have the budget, but more often than not, it’s because the libraries require that books have special cataloging info.
Many indie authors don’t have that cataloging info because it requires getting a cataloging specialist to create that info for each book. How do you know? You can always ask your favorite indie author if they have that info.(Feel free to point them to this blog and tell them to contact me and I’ll be happy to help them out!).
I DO have that cataloging info to make it easier for libraries to buy my books. Its include it right in the first page of the printed copies of all my Dragon Lovers books!
So if you’re interested in reading the Dragon Lovers books for free, please ask your local library to buy copies of my books! (At this time, only print editions of my books are available for Library purchasing, but I’ve also made LARGE PRINT editions available for the visually impaired).
I’ve tried to make it as simple as possible with this sample copy-and-paste form request letter here (link opens a shared google doc).
All you have to do is add your name, library patron or barcode number, the name of your library, and then copy and paste the letter with the book info into an email. Alternatively, you can also make a copy of the google doc file and print it out to take to your local library.
To those who do request that their library purchase my books, THANK YOU, because you are helping to support an author and her family, and helping me show my kids that mom has goals too!
Feel free to tag me on social media when your library gets them. You might just get a special shoutout from me!
Tags: Read Betrothed to the Dragon for Free, Read Belonging to the Dragon for Free, Read Bonded to the Dragon for Free, Read Kara Lockharte Dragon Free